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New York, NY – January 14, 2015 – Deep in Appalachia, there’s a war brewing over an ancient crop valued at $1000 a pound. Supply can’t keep up with demand and it’s causing fierce competition inside and outside the law. This mountain gold is ginseng, and there’s a frenzied race to harvest it during its short two-month season. In season 2 of APPALACHIAN OUTLAWS the stakes are higher for the growers, the diggers and the middlemen in this dangerous new world money grab premiering Monday, February 2nd at 10PM ET/PT on HISTORY.

In the new season, fireworks start in the premiere episode when land- owner Mike Ross gets robbed by poachers in a pre-dawn raid and loses thousands of dollars in pure ginseng. Now, Mike’s on a mission to take back what is rightfully his, and that’s just the start of this all out hunt over the golden root.

The region’s top buyer, Tony Coffman, strikes the biggest deal of his life with a Chinatown client from New York City, and to fill this 2000 pound order, he’ll need help from his two best diggers, Greg Shook and Obie Bennet. These guys scale cliffs, climb mountains and forge through ice cold rivers to get to the most remote areas where ginseng lives — all in hopes for a big pay day. Tony Coffman’s biggest adversary, Corby “The General” Patton, has set his sights once again on toppling Tony’s empire, and to do it, he’s brought in two of Kentucky’s top diggers. They’ll soon find out that out-of-state ginsengers aren’t welcome in these hollers. But it’s the newest buyer in town that wreaks the most havoc. Sam ‘Junkyard’ Lungsford and his gang of rough diggers aren’t afraid to play on the wrong side of the law, and when they descend upon West Virginia, the ginseng scene truly heats up.

In APPALACHIAN OUTLAWS, whoever controls the ginseng, controls the mountains. People will steal it, risk jail time and even their lives to get their hands on it. Over-harvesting in Asia has increased demand, pushing prices to an all-time high, and people are rushing to cash in. It so happens the Appalachian Mountains have just the right elevation, rainfall and mineral-rich soil to produce the best wild ginseng in the world, but it’s only legal for digging from the end of summer until the first frost. To prevent over-harvesting in the U.S., some states have started regulating where it’s legal to pull ginseng, which has made territorial lines even blurrier than before. And with ginseng fever heating up, outsiders are creeping in on local’s territory to find it.

The series follows a set of unique characters in their quest to acquire and fight for this plant that affords many their livelihood. From diggers to growers to the buyers, every day is a matter of survival in a trade where people will do just about anything to get their hands on this rare root.

APPALACHIAN OUTLAWS is produced for HISTORY by Original Productions, a FremantleMedia Company. Executive Producers for Original Productions are Philip D. Segal, Jeff Conroy & Sarah Whalen. Executive producers for HISTORY are Elaine Frontain Bryant, Julian P. Hobbs and Stephen Mintz.